News & Press

This week, European Member States agreed on a common position regarding the future implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) new carbon market, set to start operating in 2021. The creation of a new offsetting mechanism for aviation, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), was agreed as part of a…

Pricing of coal pollution for its damaging impacts on our health and the planet “is an issue of life and death” according to former Secretary of State John Kerry at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco this month. Carbon Market Watch participated in the summit to present how engagement of environmental groups, as a counterweight to the lobby interests of high-emitting industries, is critical for fairer and more effective carbon pricing.

The divide between countries on key elements of the new UN carbon markets have become apparent at the last UNFCCC session which closed last week in Bangkok. Open questions around the transition of old markets and how to ensure that carbon offsets do not water down climate ambition are set to continue during COP24, when major rules of the Paris Rulebook are expected to be finalised in December in Katowice, Poland.

Market negotiations resumed at full speed in Bangkok, with new text being published after only one day of negotiations. Parties are feeling the pressure now that COP24 is looming. We’ve started the session by hearing lists of priorities for items that could not be postponed to 2019 (assuming that not all issues could be resolved…

On Earth Day 22 April 2016, world leaders were in New York to sign the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Two years on, governments are working on the rulebook to put the historic deal into practice. Ahead of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, we take a look at the Paris Agreement market provisions and lay out…

Polluting cannot be as cheap as it is today – was the message from ministers, business executives and civil society leaders who came together at the third high-level annual assembly of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) last week. Carbon Market Watch will join the CPLC’s steering committee to advance NGO engagement and help ensure…

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says that taxes in major economies are far below the cost of pollution from the use of fossil fuels on climate and the environment, urging governments to do more to make polluters pay. A lax tax Taxes on high-carbon activities can trigger catalytic shifts towards low-carbon societies…

Editorial Happy 2018, a pivotal year for stepping up climate action The World Economic Forum’s latest Global Risk Report places climate change as the number one threat facing the world in 2018 – a hot topic at this year’s meeting of world leaders in Davos. Our message to the crowds gathered in the Alpine town:…

Editorial The UN’s annual climate talks this year held in Bonn Germany saw moderate progress on implementing the Paris Agreement. However, critical questions on the functioning of future carbon markets remain wide open, making it impossible to assess if they will contribute to the fight against climate change. Meanwhile, the UN’s aviation body is drafting rules for…

In October, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group (International Finance Corporation, IFC) confirmed the cancellation of a controversial Santa Rita hydroelectric project in Guatemala, approved under the UN’s carbon offsetting scheme Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The announcement follows a report by the IFC Ombudsman which found serious failings in the project…